Wire to Wire Win: Celtics 88, Wizards 76

Paul Pierce got docked a little for using the third quarter to try and pull a Kobe Bryant. He took a lot of contested jumpers early in the shot clock and tried to assert his power over the rookie Chris Singleton. The Celtics were outscored 21-16 in the quarter and did not have the will to run an offense or try on defense. Still for all the isolations, it was nice to see someone putting forth the effort necessary to maintain any sort of lead.

Pierce also made up for the being a bit selfish on the offensive end by hitting the glass hard. If Pierce snags 8 or more rebounds in a game, he can take as many step back jumpers as we wants as far as I’m concerned.

Bass wasn’t required to do too much tonight which was nice for a few reasons: 1) the Celtics offense was jelling and 2) I’m convinced it’s only a matter of time before Bass really gets exposed on the defensive end. I’m really hoping his defensive short-comings have just been amplified as of late and not indicative of his typical play. We shall see.

It was a rather forgettable night for Garnett. He didn’t shoot well. He didn’t rebound particularly well. At times he looked winded and just old. KG may have gotten the B but Doc Rivers gets the A for playing Greg Stiemsma extended minutes and KG only 24. Limiting KG’s minutes tonight was uber important given the game tomorrow. It may be against the Bobcats, but since the Celtics can’t afford to lose any of these games, they can’t take anyone lightly.

It seems like there’s really something going on with Rondo. He let John Wall get to the rim at will in the third quarter and only attempted one shot in the first half (the halfcourt prayer at the end of the quarter).

After the game, Doc Rivers was asked about Rondo’s passiveness and he replied, “Yeah, it’s nothing to do with health, it’s just Rondo. When we win, I feel good about it.”

Avery Bradley scored a career-high 23 points tonight. More than that, he also ran the offense effectively in the second quarter and could be heard barking out the plays to his teammates. For a kid who has spent the better part of his NBA career looking shell-shocked, assertive communication is definitely a welcome sign. Once Allen comes back, Bradley will return to his role as the primary backup to Rajon Rondo. It’s nice to see he’s capable of scoring and running the offense.

Keyon Dooling was brought to Boston to knock down open shots, play confident and capable defense, and run the offense in a pinch. Tonight, he fulfilled those responsibilities admirably. It looks like there will be a lot more DNPs next to E’twaun Moore’s name for the foreseeable future.

Marquis Daniels has rebounded from almost being cut to solid contributor in only a week. He had 2 points, 2 boards, 2 assists and a steal in 17 minutes. Not a bad way to spell Paul Pierce.

Ryan Hollins, C13 MIN | 1-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 3 PTS | -5

Word on the streets says that Hollins is a long athletic seven footer who doesn’t rebound. It sounds impossible but it is anything but. Unfortunately for the C’s, he didn’t do much of anything else either. His highlights tonight included tipping the ball eight rows out of bounds and losing track of his man on a baseline cut resulting in an uncontested dunk. Welcome to Boston, Ryan!

Stiemsma continues to use Ryan’s Denver recap as motivation as he put up a solid 10 points and 7 boards in 23 minutes tonight. Obviously the best part of his outing was being able to give KG some much needed rest. Just imagine what things would look like if Chris Wilcox was healthy.

Sorry, the template defaults to A+. I just forgot to change it. It's fixed…

Lantrell Walker

Good win by the C’s tonight, they strayed in the 3rd, but atleast they didn’t completely meltdown. C’s get the W & the Spurs do in Philly and we’re right back in the race for the Atlantic.

High Rollers

Does the combo of AB and Rondo remind anybody else of Pinky and the Brain?

Nice work from the Sophomore tonight.

On another note, the mad genius #9 is back to ticking people off again. Like Doc said, win and it feels good. Personally, I just think the kid's IQ requires seeing all the possibilities play out. But I think someone needs to tell him they've pretty much all been played out. Time to impose that will.

High Rollers

And being Pinky to Rondo's Brain is no dis to AB. That was one crazy dynamic duo. Every day was about taking over the world. So to speak. And confidence is working wonders for #Zero. I hope he keeps it up even when Ray and MP return. Such a flip of the script from a year and half ago. We had bigs aplenty, now we're wing heavy. Oh well, roll with it, I guess. And keep working on cutting off penetration. Rondo. Sheesh. Even geniuses have room for improvement.

yeah

Pinky & the Brain yes. I see that.

http://Lovemyceltics.blogspot.com mycelts

WIZ

AVERY BRADLEY,
LOVE YOU MADLY!

http://twitter.com/michaeljavid @michaeljavid

short and sweet

JR99

This Rondo+Bradley combo should come in handy later on. I can imagine a time when they need some quick points so AB comes in for a few lightning-quick cuts to the rim and 8-10 quick points before the defense even knows what hit em.

Luke Walker

who would have ever thought we'd be talking about avery bradley as a quick jolt of offense off the bench?!

iceman

Haha I love the reference to Ryan's Denver comment about Stiemsma. Insert foot in mouth.

Kafel

Nice win. Good that starter got some rest. But is there any big body that we can get? I'm afraid that Hollins isn't even close of what we need… Oh and it was great thing to see that Avery actually can knock down some shots! I hope that they can get another W in Charlotte.

CG12

Bradley and Stiemsma have been playing quite well for a couple of weeks now. This is moving from "random effectiveness when forced to play" to "genuinely able to contribute when given meaningful minutes." I've been advocating all year for Avery to see more burn. As far as I'm concerned, he could get a few more minutes from each of Rondo and Ray. Once the Steamer can get a few calls going his way, he will be even more effective. That guy gets NO respect, which is the NBA standard for rookies. It will come around.